What is mixed construction (and is it bad)?

What do mixed construction sentences look like?

A mixed construction is a sentence that starts with one grammatical structure and ends in a completely different one. This results in a sentence that does not make much sense, unless there is enough context in the sentence to help you understand the intended meaning.

Writing with organized sentence structures makes things easier to read, which is why mixed construction in grammar can be difficult to process. Mixed constructions often occur if you write something in increments and revisit a sentence at a later time, but they can happen at any point in the writing process.

Here is an example of a sentence with mixed construction:

• Caricaturists, a skill that requires lots of training, exaggerate people’s features on purpose.

Although the sentence doesn’t grammatically make sense, we can assume that “caricature art” is a skill that requires “lots of training” and that “caricaturists exaggerate the features on their models on purpose.” However, the sentence is written as if “caricaturist” is a skill and not a profession. We could restructure this sentence in the following ways:

• Caricature art, a skill that requires lots of training, is a type of art that purposely exaggerates a person’s features.
• Caricature art is a skill that requires lots of training. When caricaturists draw people, they exaggerate their features on purpose.

Now, let’s take a look at an example that might not make as much sense:

• The goal of this guidebook gives travelers a chance to choose their own adventure.

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Here, the sentence is confusing because the subject is unclear. Is “goal” the subject, or is it “guidebook?” It sounds like the sentence is going one way and suddenly switches directions. We can add more words or rephrase the sentence to have it make sense, like this:

• The goal of this guidebook is to give travelers a chance to choose their own adventure.
• This guidebook is made with the goal of giving travelers a chance to choose their own adventure.

Is mixed construction always incorrect?

Even if your readers are able to decipher a sentence with mixed construction, it is never correct to use it in writing. Complete sentences need a subject and a predicate, or a word that describes the action happening in a verb, and mixed constructions usually do not include functioning predicates.

Although it’s common to accidentally switch the direction of your sentence when speaking, reading through a piece of writing requires more time and effort to deduce the placement of the words. Always make sure that the structure of your sentence is consistent throughout to make it easier to read.

What does a sentence need to make sense?

When writing, it’s important to follow basic rules like subject-verb agreement and to know where the different parts of a sentence belong. Learning how to identify the subject, object, and verb is a good start for writing complete sentences. If you’re not sure whether your sentence makes sense, use a grammar checking tool to get a second opinion.

Making mistakes are a part of writing, and knowing how to identify different types of errors can help you be aware of them. Browse through our writing tips to learn about writing errors like dangling modifiers, malapropisms, and more.